The Queen Alexandra Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) is the largest living butterfly, with a wingspan that stretches almost a foot across. One the rarest butterflies in the world, it's found only in the rain forests of New Guinea. The females, which have a chocolate brown body and wings, boast a wingspan...

A color-changing patch modeled after the iridescent wings of butterflies could give soldiers a heads-up on the severity of injuries sustained on the battlefield. About the size of a binder hole in loose-leaf paper, the patch is made of 3D photonic crystals — tiny structures whose geometry can be manipulated...

A chill may be just what butterfly lads need to bring the ladies fluttering to their knees. New research finds that when exposed to cool, dry temperatures as caterpillars, female butterflies, which are used to being on the receiving end of the love chase, actively courted males when mating time...

Monarch butterflies have begun their annual transcontinental journey north from their wintering grounds in Mexico, and butterfly enthusiasts in the southern United States are keeping their eyes peeled for the season's first flash of brilliant orange and black. Already a few colorful visitors have been spotted in California, Florida and...

Monarch butterflies flying on their annual migration made an unexpected early entrance in many parts of the United States this year, prompting astonished squeals of joy among some butterfly enthusiasts. I was surprised they're here already! wrote one butterfly watcher in Fairborn, Ohio, on April 14 on the monarch tracking...

The Appalachian tiger swallowtail butterfly is a rare breed: Some 100,000 years ago, two different species mated and their hybrid offspring gave rise to the Appalachian species, researchers have found. The researchers were surprised to find the Appalachian species' parents were the Canadian tiger swallowtail and the Eastern tiger swallowtail....

New research into the particulars of butterfly DNA has unmasked as many as nine new butterfly species previously lumped together with known butterfly species. The interloping butterflies, all found in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, have long remained incognito in the collection of El Colegio de la Frontera Sur-Chetumal (ECOSUR), a research...

Butterflies in the Rocky Mountains are likely taking a hit from climate change, according to new research. Lab experiments suggest that Mormon fritillaries, dainty butterflies with gold, orange and brown-flecked wings, are dying off in Colorado's Rockies because earlier snowmelts are killing off the wild flowers they feed on. Long-term...

Many monarchs (Image credit: © naturepl.com /Ingo Arndt / WWF.) Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) flying in the warmth of the midday sun near their overwintering colony in Michoacan, Mexico. Monarch butterflies return year after year to the same swath of forest in central Mexico, to pass the cool winter months...

Monarch butterflies have taken a hit this year, according to researchers who monitor the colorful insects' numbers at their traditional overwintering grounds in a forest in central Mexico. This winter's surviving population covers only about 7 acres (2.89 hectares), almost a third less than the area the butterflies covered in...

Many of Europe's butterflies are in trouble, according to a new report, but a team of scientists is offering hope for the beleaguered insects. The team has outlined some key strategies — some of them surprising — for saving the continent's butterflies. In the last 15 years alone, the numbers...

Advanced Optics ... on Butterfly Wings (Image credit: University of Southhampton.)The full grown morpho rhetenor butterfly, a native to South America. Mobility Key to Animals Surviving Human Sprawl (Image credit: Howard Fescemyer/Pennsylvania State University)Glanville fritillary butterfly. Evolution Occurs in the Blink of an Eye (Image credit: Sylvain Charlat/Science)A male Hypolimnas...

As climate changes, some butterflies take to the forests to shade themselves from the heat, new research suggests. However, not a large enough number of butterflies are making the move to save their populations, the researchers also found. A lot of the butterflies we were looking at are threatened by...

A small blue butterfly that lives along the Florida coast is the latest addition to the Endangered Species List, federal officials announced this week. Effective today (April 6), the Miami blue butterfly is protected by law. Unlike monarch butterflies, known for their harrowing migrations, Miami blues spend their lives in...

The flashy wing colors of butterflies are spread through species crossbreeding, as are genes devoted to smell and taste, a new genetic analysis of butterflies of the genus Heliconius suggests. The crossbred butterflies seem to survive better in the wild. What we show is that one butterfly species can gain...